Giu Mummy

When you drive from Nako to Tabo, you cross a bridge over the Spiti River after Sumdo and take a detour of about 7 km to reach a small hamlet called Giu. This is an almost isolated habitation with no other village in view, but what makes it famous is over 500-years-old mummy of a Buddhist monk. On a small hillock just on the outskirts of the village in a small room, inside a glass cabin, lies the mummy of an old monk. The nails, teeth and hair of the mummy appear as if of a living person. There are many theories about how this monk’s body has remained in this state without decay and without the use of any chemicals for preservation. Apparently his body got buried beneath a glacier during an avalanche and remained there for hundreds of years till ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police) personnel found it during some road clearance project. It was then brought to Giu and placed here, and a small shrine was built around it. Another theory claims that the yogic posture in which the monk sits can self preserve the body. Whatever the case be, it is no less than a wonder to witness that how a human body has preserved itself for so many years without any decay or chemicals. When I visited, a new big temple was being built next to the existing shrine.